Politics

[Matt 0]

And exactly what's wrong with those companies profiting anyway- the projects simply wouldn't happen without the funding and commitment of those companies, as the govt would have to take the debt onto their own balance sheets, which it simply couldn't handle.

 

Of course, shelving BSF makes perfect sense when you don't really want any Ss in the F and you would rather it was all in a 'free' (ie private) system.

[PaddockLad 16505]

Isnt the bottom line in PFI just the private sector holding taxpayers to ransome?....would the large building firms have been comitted to building new schools and hospitals if they had only signed conventional contracts which didnt virtually gurantee their profits?

 

Trust me, my friend that is definitely not the case. We did a PFI project in the Midlands a couple of years back and lost £50m on it. PFI does NOT guarantee profit.

 

The smart money in PFI work is in the FM contracts that are awarded concurrently with the build job.

 

well yeah its the FM and operational side of it I was on about...thats what PFI is all about...unless you fuck up big time in the construction side of it obviously

 

When I worked for a major electrical/mechanical contractor we lost 750k on a data centre but becauase the facilities side of the business had the maintainance contract for the same client (apparently the planets biggest merchant bankers ) worth 84million over however many years it was quietly brushed under the table.....fuck knows how you explaned a a 50 mill loss?..I take it receivership was mentioned?..how the fuck did you survive that?

[Craig 6576]

fuck knows how you explaned a a 50 mill loss?..I take it receivership was mentioned?..how the fuck did you survive that?

 

Thankfully I work for one of the biggest construction firms in Europe. Never got anywhere near receivership but the CEO was given the Spanish Archer as a result.

 

As for how we lost it.... combinbation of shite document control and a colossal fuck up in the estimating dept.

[PaddockLad 16505]

fuck knows how you explaned a a 50 mill loss?..I take it receivership was mentioned?..how the fuck did you survive that?

 

Thankfully I work for one of the biggest construction firms in Europe. Never got anywhere near receivership but the CEO was given the Spanish Archer as a result.

 

As for how we lost it.... combinbation of shite document control and a colossal fuck up in the estimating dept.

 

I've suffered with that...I refused to ket 20 odd sparks start work one day because the drawings issued hadnt been approved...that part of the job was up and down 4 times after that. They never learn

 

Anyway, why in the name of fuck cant this country afford to renew crumbling 20th century schools so our kids can be educated in the right enviroment?...because thats what the coalition are basically saying. Don't know if Labour wouldve cut back that much...it was truly one of their flagship policies they could point to that had benefitted people...pity Gordon had left it off the balance sheet....

[Craig 6576]

Anyway, why in the name of fuck cant this country afford to renew crumbling 20th century schools so our kids can be educated in the right enviroment?...because thats what the coalition are basically saying. Don't know if Labour wouldve cut back that much...it was truly one of their flagship policies they could point to that had benefitted people...pity Gordon had left it off the balance sheet....

 

As was reported soon after the election, there was a note left for the incoming government saying something along the lines of "don't bother looking for any cash, it's all gone!"

 

Pretty much sums it up tbh - as a country we've already borrowed well beyond our means and the days of disposable income are sadly behind us.

[AgentAxeman 164]

As was reported soon after the election, there was a note left for the incoming government saying something along the lines of "don't bother looking for any cash, it's all gone!"

 

it staggers me that anyone could believe otherwise

[Guest Gordon McKeag]

PFI or not, stopping the renovation of schools is a bad thing.

I donno like, we get a PFI hospital or school which costs £500m, we're paying back £3b over 25 years and beyond, that's why we're crippled as a country, 99.9% of people can't grasp, understand, or be aware of that.

[peasepud 59]

PFI or not, stopping the renovation of schools is a bad thing.

I donno like, we get a PFI hospital or school which costs £500m, we're paying back £3b over 25 years and beyond, that's why we're crippled as a country, 99.9% of people can't grasp, understand, or be aware of that.

However, they've not said it's the PFI that's elbowed but the work itself. I want my kid edumacated in a building that's not falling apart and/or full of asbestos.

[Guest Gordon McKeag]

PFI or not, stopping the renovation of schools is a bad thing.

I donno like, we get a PFI hospital or school which costs £500m, we're paying back £3b over 25 years and beyond, that's why we're crippled as a country, 99.9% of people can't grasp, understand, or be aware of that.

However, they've not said it's the PFI that's elbowed but the work itself. I want my kid edumacated in a building that's not falling apart and/or full of asbestos.

The schools we went tee were like concentration camps compared to what they've got now. Look at Walbottle School what they've done to it.

[peasepud 59]

I went for a reunion 2 years ago half the school wad brand new while the other bit hadn't changed since the day I left, 21 years ago.

[Guest Gordon McKeag]

I went for a reunion 2 years ago half the school wad brand new while the other bit hadn't changed since the day I left, 21 years ago.

If you went to Walbottle, then the whole things been done now. It's hard to believe I left school 15 years ago when you put it like that, 15 years, where did they go them years. I remember abusing the Physics teacher about Leeds not selling out when they won the league like it was yesterday.

[Happy Face 29]

I remember abusing the Physics teacher about Leeds not selling out when they won the league like it was yesterday.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it was. I could well imagine you staying in touch just so you could keep reminding him about it.

[Guest alex]

[NJS 4252]

I remember abusing the Physics teacher about Leeds not selling out when they won the league like it was yesterday.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it was. I could well imagine you staying in touch just so you could keep reminding him about it.

 

 

Loads of text groups on his phone ready for action "Leeds Cunts", "Scouse Cunts" etc etc

 

Actually sounds alright

[Happy Face 29]

When we formed our Coalition just nine weeks ago, we did so because we shared a view that our country needed strong and stable government to steer it through a time of enormous difficulty. With the largest peacetime deficit in our history, the inevitable short-termism of an unstable minority government wouldn't have been good enough. So we put aside our differences to work together in the national interest, and have set to work tackling Britain's debt.

 

But, for both of us, sorting out the public finances is a responsibility, not a passion. We didn't come into politics just to balance the books. We are both ambitious for Britain: we want to change our country for the better. We want to see the best schools open to the poorest children, a first-class NHS there for everyone, streets that are safe, families that are stable and communities that are strong.

 

Whatever the differences that exist between us and our parties, we both passionately believe in giving people more power over their lives. It has become increasingly clear to us that we can be a strong, reforming government if we build outwards from the instincts we share.

 

But our commitment to give power away isn't just born of instinct; it has been strengthened by the evidence of the past. For decades, governments have assumed that the only way to make things better is to centralise. Of course, central government has a crucial role to play, but it cannot and should not try to do everything. It's time for the central state to allow the genius of grassroots innovation, diversity and experimentation to take off.

 

We know this won't be easy. We know that the political machine has an inbuilt tendency to centralise. That's why we are bringing in a new way of coordinating government action. Last week we started publishing Structural Reform Plans, one for each government department. Don't let the dry name fool you. These are radical documents that are going to change the way government works.

 

Each government department has its own plan, with a list of objectives and deadlines to achieve them by. So far, this might sound like the last government with its Public Service Agreements and Prime Minister's Delivery Unit. The difference is in what we're asking departments to do – not to control things from the centre but to put in place structures that will allow people and communities to take power and control for themselves. In place of the old tools of bureaucratic accountability – top-down regulation and targets – are the new tools of democratic, bottom-up accountability – individual choice, competition, direct elections and transparency.

 

Decentralisation will mean different things across different services. In the plan for schools published last week we identify the major task for the Department for Education: to set schools free, encourage diversity and allow people to start up new schools, thereby opening up the state monopoly on education.

 

Instead of teachers thinking they have to impress the department, they will have to impress parents, who will finally have a real choice over where to send their child. The most disadvantaged children will benefit from a "pupil premium" so that schools have an incentive to take them on, rather than the incentives they have at the moment to keep them out.

 

Today we launch our White Paper on health. Yes, we're committed to increasing NHS resources in real terms in each year of this parliament, but we're also committed to reforming the NHS. To help achieve that we'll make sure every penny is spent more effectively, removing £1 billion a year by 2014/15 from bureaucracy and waste.

 

The plan for health, like all the others, says a lot about the Coalition – not just that we're committed to reform, but that the very act of combining our policies has made us more radical about decentralising power.

 

It combines Conservative thinking on choice and competition with the Liberal Democrat belief in local democracy to create a truly radical vision for the NHS – giving general practitioners authority over commissioning and patients much more control, and ensuring democratic accountability with councils taking greater responsibility, in particular over public health.

 

Dealing with the deficit will be painful, but if we ensure reform goes alongside it, Britain will be stronger, freer and fairer. We hope and expect that people will look back at the days when central government held all the power and think it arcane and bizarre. If we continue on the path laid by these plans, if we are bold enough to let go of the controls of government and if we can truly empower people and communities, this country has a great future to look forward to.

 

-David Cameron and Nick Clegg

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics...power-away.html

 

Wasn't there a link between reduced government oversight and the shitheap we're currently in?

Edited July 12, 2010 by Happy Face

[NJS 4252]

Yep - neither of them ever said how they would have prevented the crunch - depsite blaming Brown on the issue.

 

 

Incidentally Mandelson's stuff this weekend did nothing to stop me despising Clegg - whatever the merits or otherwise of Gordon Brown, a bloke whose party has won a quarter of the seats should not have a say in who the leader of the Labour party is.

[Park Life 71]

I remember abusing the Physics teacher about Leeds not selling out when they won the league like it was yesterday.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it was. I could well imagine you staying in touch just so you could keep reminding him about it.

 

[Happy Face 29]

The number of people unemployed in the UK fell by 34,000 to 2.47m in the three months to May, official figures show.

 

Meanwhile, those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell in June by 20,800 to 1.46m, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

 

That took the jobless rate to 7.8%, the lowest since January and below forecasts of about 7.9%.

 

The number of people in work rose by 160,000 in the three months to May, the biggest rise since August 2006.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10628641

 

Could it be that delaying cuts was having the desired effect?

 

Can't imagine the Tories will generate similar stats from their first 3 months in power.

[Danny CL 0]

The number of people unemployed in the UK fell by 34,000 to 2.47m in the three months to May, official figures show.

 

Meanwhile, those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell in June by 20,800 to 1.46m, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

 

That took the jobless rate to 7.8%, the lowest since January and below forecasts of about 7.9%.

 

The number of people in work rose by 160,000 in the three months to May, the biggest rise since August 2006.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10628641

 

Could it be that delaying cuts was having the desired effect?

 

Can't imagine the Tories will generate similar stats from their first 3 months in power.

 

I very much doubt it. Think the new government have played a blinder thus far though.

 

There will be pain but there has to be.

[Happy Face 29]

Think the new government have played a blinder thus far though.

 

Based upon what?

[Happy Face 29]

The number of people unemployed in the UK fell by 34,000 to 2.47m in the three months to May, official figures show.

 

Meanwhile, those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell in June by 20,800 to 1.46m, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

 

That took the jobless rate to 7.8%, the lowest since January and below forecasts of about 7.9%.

 

The number of people in work rose by 160,000 in the three months to May, the biggest rise since August 2006.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10628641

 

Could it be that delaying cuts was having the desired effect?

 

Can't imagine the Tories will generate similar stats from their first 3 months in power.

 

I very much doubt it.

 

The biggest rise in people working for 4 years would suggest it was.

[Danny CL 0]

Think the new government have played a blinder thus far though.

 

Based upon what?

 

Market sentiment, protecting the countries credit rating therefore interest cost, foreign investment rising (and the resulting ex rate affect), real measures on cutting the deficit without punishing business with an NI hike.

 

The days of short term fixes seems well and truly over.

 

Britain will be a pretty horrible place to live for the next 5 years, unemployment will rise, house prices will fall but GDP will increase and the deficit will fall.

 

All this is essential for the long term financial health of the country. The prospects under the labour plan would have been a total disaster.

 

We are all in this together, better get used to it.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Danny CL

[NJS 4252]

Think the new government have played a blinder thus far though.

 

Based upon what?

 

Market sentiment, protecting the countries credit rating therefore interest cost, foreign investment rising (and the resulting ex rate affect), real measures on cutting the deficit without punishing business with an NI hike.

 

The days of short term fixes seems well and truly over.

 

Britain will be a pretty horrible place to live for the next 5 years, unemployment will rise, house prices will fall but GDP will increase and the deficit will fall.

 

All this is essential for the long term financial health of the country. The prospects under the labour plan would have been a total disaster.

 

We are all in this together, better get used to it.

 

What a despicable piece of cockney shit you are.

[Renton 20414]

Think the new government have played a blinder thus far though.

 

Based upon what?

 

Market sentiment, protecting the countries credit rating therefore interest cost, foreign investment rising (and the resulting ex rate affect), real measures on cutting the deficit without punishing business with an NI hike.

 

The days of short term fixes seems well and truly over.

 

Britain will be a pretty horrible place to live for the next 5 years, unemployment will rise, house prices will fall but GDP will increase and the deficit will fall.

 

All this is essential for the long term financial health of the country. The prospects under the labour plan would have been a total disaster.

 

We are all in this together, better get used to it.

 

How's GDP going to rise with increasing unemployment? How's the deficit going to be cut with no consumer confidence, falling house prices, and falling tax revenues? As we are part of a global, and in particular, European, recession, how are we going to be attractive investment for for foreign investors, and how can we increase exports? What happens if a death spiral results from politically motivated austerity measures?

[Danny CL 0]

Think the new government have played a blinder thus far though.

 

Based upon what?

 

Market sentiment, protecting the countries credit rating therefore interest cost, foreign investment rising (and the resulting ex rate affect), real measures on cutting the deficit without punishing business with an NI hike.

 

The days of short term fixes seems well and truly over.

 

Britain will be a pretty horrible place to live for the next 5 years, unemployment will rise, house prices will fall but GDP will increase and the deficit will fall.

 

All this is essential for the long term financial health of the country. The prospects under the labour plan would have been a total disaster.

 

We are all in this together, better get used to it.

 

How's GDP going to rise with increasing unemployment? How's the deficit going to be cut with no consumer confidence, falling house prices, and falling tax revenues? As we are part of a global, and in particular, European, recession, how are we going to be attractive investment for for foreign investors, and how can we increase exports? What happens if a death spiral results from politically motivated austerity measures?

 

Market sentiment is that double dip is unlikely now even during the austerity period, there will be growth however weak year on year.

 

Exchange rates being an indicator of foreign investment in the UK (particularly sovereign debt) are in positive territory, all this means we have to pay back less on foreign denominated loans.

 

A death spiral is not particularly likely unless the whole system packs in (in which case you might as well get the tinned food in). much less likely than the prospect of a UK downgrade under the old ideals that would have lead to spiraling interest costs and repayments due to the total destruction of the exchange rate.

 

Increasing unemployment will be mainly from the public sector, with the private sector is expected to grow and take up some of the slack.